Direct marketing for the insurance sector is a marketing method used to generate leads for insurance agents. According to the Direct Marketing Association, insurance marketers spent $6.81 billion on direct marketing in 2008, the last year for which figures are available from the DMA. Given the plethora of marketing messages bombarding businesses and consumers, direct marketing offers insurance agents a personal, quantifiable method of generating leads.

Types of Direct Marketing

Insurance brokers and companies use many direct marketing methods to find new customers. Direct mail postcards and letters are two types of traditional direct mail that are popular for insurance marketing. Many companies purchase local lists and send lead-generation mailers out for their insurance brokers. Other types of direct marketing used by the insurance sector include telemarketing, radio, television and digital advertising.

Benefits

There are several benefits of using direct marketing to sell insurance services. Direct marketing is easily measured, which makes it easy for insurance agents and companies to assess how well a campaign performs for them. Direct mail marketing activities can be hidden from competitors, a great benefit in the highly competitive insurance industry where companies may battle for new customers.

Measurement

Direct marketing campaigns can be measured in several ways. The overall response rate is assessed as the number of leads that come into the insurance office divided by the number of mail pieces sent out or audience size reached. Other metrics for insurance marketing campaigns that can be measured include the lead-to-close ratio, or how many of the leads that came in actually resulted in sold policies.

Tips

Insurance marketers offer several tips for generating a better response rate, especially for direct mail. Always offer a free gift to those who respond. The gift may be a report on home safety for home insurance leads, winterizing an automobile for auto insurance or estate planning for life insurance, but it should tie into what you're selling. Include a response card, and use a unique 800 number to track phone responses by campaign.

About the Author

Jeanne Grunert has been a writer since 1990. Covering business, marketing, gardening and health topics, her work has appeared in the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books, "Horse Illustrated" and many national publications. Grunert earned her Master of Arts in writing from Queens College and a Master of Science in direct and interactive marketing from New York University.